Catch fish with Mike Ladle.

Catch Fish with
Mike Ladle

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SEA FISHING

For anyone unfamiliar with the site always check the FRESHWATER, SALTWATER and TACK-TICS pages. The Saltwater page now extends back as a record of over several years of (mostly) sea fishing and may be a useful guide as to when to fish. The Freshwater stuff is also up to date now. I keep adding to both. These pages are effectively my diary and the latest will usually be about fishing in the previous day or two. As you see I also add the odd piece from my friends and correspondents if I've not been doing much. The Tactics pages which are chiefly 'how I do it' plus a bit of science are also updated regularly and (I think) worth a read (the earlier ones are mostly tackle and 'how to do it' stuff).

Surprise catch!

I went fishing with my pals Bill and Nigel on Thursday evening (probably the last decent set of tides this year. HW 16:00hr dark by 16:30). Bill had done a recce earlier in the week and said that there were mountains of maggoty weed in a couple of spots. We were armed with both spinning gear and fly rods - just in case - but in the short period before it got dark we caught nothing. There were stacks of weed/maggots on the beach and despite our blank it looked good so Bill and Nigel went again on Friday evening. This time Nigel had a 3.5lb bass on a soft plastic and Bill had some small pollack. I was visiting my eldest son in Trowbridge on Saturday so no fishing for me but I thought I'd creep down for the dawn tide on Sunday morning.

I arrived at 06:30 and it was glassy calm with not even a breeze. There was no sign of any surface-feeding fish so I spun with my old Surespin, and Stradic 4000 loaded with 30lb Whiplash and I started fishing with an 18cm Pearl Redgill. After ten minutes something gave it a tweak. "Small pollack?" I thought. Then, at 06:50 I had a good bite about two metres out. The lure stopped dead and there was a mighty swirl so the brain was saying "BIG BASS!" However, the fish just hung there and didn't fight at all so I leaned into it and slid it ashore. I saw at once that it was no bass but a wonderful 7lb+ mullet in fantastic condition. The fish was nicely hooked in the mouth despite the position and large size of the hook on the Redgill. What a fish! A bit later I had a second bite at full range (25/30m) which turned out to be a three pound bass, again it was in excellent nick. This one it fought all the way to the beach. After that I packed in and went for breakfast. Not bad for three-quarters of an hour eh?

Mullet sometimes take big lures at this time of the year. In fact I've seen them chasing madly after large plugs intended for bass. Nevertheless, the hook on a Redgill IS much too big and in totally the wrong place to intercept tail nippers, so this one must have been really keen.

If you have any comments or questions about fish, methods, tactics or 'what have you!' get in touch with me by sending an E-MAIL to - docladle@hotmail.com

Nice one.

I think that the mullet didn't battle because it was just as surprised as I was.

Flare.

Ready to return.  The rosy flare at the bottom of the picture is because the camera was propped on my 'pink' fishing bag.

Bass.

No monster but a welcome catch.